So the hatemail dubbed me THE.... Sodomite Hal Duncan!! (sic) So I will wear that with pride, cuntfuckers. It's like The Outlaw Josie Wales only better, right? I mean, did he have a fully capitalised THE, an extra-long dramatic pause, and two exclamation marks? No, he did not. Chickenshit.

Urchins scrobbled down the centuries from yer poor and persecuted. Foundlings Fixed in imperishable waifhood by the Stamp and sold to rich groanhuffs as child labour. Hellions with spirits as resilient as their flesh, less like to cower from a kick than nick yer boot, hamstring yer and fuckin leg it. That's what it is to be a Scruffian, mate, and there ain't a rhyme sung or tale told in a Scruffian squat that ain't, at the end of the day, out to learn yer how to survive. So cosy in, scamps, quit yer fidgeting, and hark to the fabbler of this here crib...

Aimed at readers old and new, as latest instalment or stand-alone introduction, A Scruffian Survival Guide is a ~116 page illustrated chapbook collecting four new works of dark queer fantasy in the "Scruffian" series. Wielding whimsy in the service of satire, with a wink to Peter Pan, a sly nod to The Borribles, and a cheery salute to Sweeney Todd, this is punk fiction for yer inner feral child.

"Hal Duncan's cheeky and charming Scruffian stories hide a steely shiv of inspection that digs uncompromisingly into the ribs of the establishment. This latest volume, populated as always with wonderful characters old and new, deepens that exploration and brings it bang up to date. I loved every word of it." -- Neil Williamson, author of BFA-nominated The Moon King